Can We Stop Birds From Crashing Into Windows?

Can We Stop Birds From Crashing Into Windows?

Nov. 13, 2014 - Every year, up to a billion birds are killed in the U.S. when they strike windows. In New York City alone, an estimated 90,000 birds die after crashing into high-rise windows, especially during migration seasons. Efforts are under way now in New York to design windows that could save the lives of avian travelers.

Christine SheppardMost people don't even realize how many birds are being killed by windows. Almost everybody you'll meet will say, "yes, I've seen a bird hit a window." Almost all of those people think it's unusual. How many birds have to hit windows for everybody to have been around when one happened. They're hitting all the time. We've created the tunnel because we're trying to develop a standard test. We're testing primarily the patterns on the glass and how well birds will avoid them.

Susan ElbinThe birds that we use, we catch from the wild here in the Bronx, along the Bronx River. We set up very fine nets. They'll fly and land in the net, and they'll bounce down into a little pocket. It's all very soft and gentle. It's an age-old way of catching birds that ornithologists have been using to study a lot of bird questions. The birds we're looking at are the birds that are moving through during migration. We identify it, we put the band on and then we will release the bird into the test chamber.

Christine SheppardThe birds see two pieces of glass. One of those pieces of glass has a pattern. The other is a plain piece of glass that is invisible to the birds. What we're asking them, really, is if you want to get out of here, which way would you go? And before the birds actually reach the glass, there's a piece of very fine netting stretched across the end of the tunnel. We have tested materials that 90% of birds will avoid. If you put vertical lines four inches apart, most birds won't try to fly through there. On the other hand, they can slip through a four-inch gap that's horizontal. So, you have to bring it down to two inches. Setting up the tunnel turned out to be a bit of a breakthrough. There is now a credit in the LEED System, the green building ratings system for reducing bird collisions that is directly based on the work that we've been doing. It doesn't matter where on the scale of pragmatic to idealistic you fall, there are reasons to protect birds. Our future, our lives, are very dependent on having healthy bird populations. I would like to be able to test pretty much any material that is out there for commercial construction, because I know that the more options there are, the more architects will be willing to use different kinds of materials in a bird friendly design.

Can We Stop Birds From Crashing Into Windows?

Nov. 13, 2014 - Every year, up to a billion birds are killed in the U.S. when they strike windows. In New York City alone, an estimated 90,000 birds die after crashing into high-rise windows, especially during migration seasons. Efforts are under way now in New York to design windows that could save the lives of avian travelers.